Final Speech- Skylar Mays

A couple of years ago I got to meet the sweetest person I had ever met. He came from a rough background like a lot of people. He grew up without a dad, and lived with his mom and his little brother and they struggled physically and financially. He got a job as soon as he was old enough and worked and attended school. He had every excuse to fail classes, but was so determined to pass and to get accepted into the state college he wanted. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone try so hard for anything. I’ve always been in the advanced classes and had never seen anyone struggle through school. Especially someone who wanted it so badly. He had tried absolutely everything he could do and just couldn’t do it. He barely graduated high school and was not accepted into the college he had wanted nor did he attend the community college he was accepted to. He is working for the same company he was and had been promoted the last time I heard. It was not the underdog story we all wanted. That’s because this is the real world and no one lives the perfect life and why it’s okay to not attend college.

                Obviously college is something I plan on doing, like most of us, but that’s because my parents think that I shouldn’t even consider not going to college as an option. I have two older brothers, one who completed college and one who didn’t even attempt. This was because my mom and dad understood school wasn’t his “thing,” and didn’t think he should struggle through more years of schooling; which is something that should be taken into account for students that can’t handle regular classroom situations. It was estimated in 2009 that 68% of all high school students were failing at least one class. While this doesn’t necessarily mean that those students wouldn’t be able to handle collegiate classes, you do have to consider the likelihood of those students passing their higher level classes. Our education system hopes that a majority of students will take the next step and go to college, but of the 20.5 million that did go to college, only 38% got their Bachelor’s degree. And in 2007 there were 5.4 million people who graduated from high school but did not go to college. And I wish I could compare all these people to Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, but I can’t. I have no idea why those people didn’t make it through. Maybe they had financial issues and couldn’t make it through. Maybe their family needed them too much. Maybe they just couldn’t handle it or just needed a break. There are so many reasons why someone would have not completed or attended college. And that’s okay. A post-secondary education is not essential.

                There are a lot of careers today that don’t require a college education that are still essential to our society such as electricians and lighting engineers. Especially as more people enter information careers it’s easy to be successful in a trade’s career. Skilled trades jobs are expected to increase faster than the national average of all jobs, and they earn well above minimum wage as long as hard work is put in, which makes it possible to live comfortably having not attended college.

                But what about those of us who know we’ll have no problem completing college but have no idea how we’re going to pay for it, or even what we’re going to major in. My brother changed his major 2 times and had to spend another year there. His friend changed his mind 4 times and I’m pretty sure is still there. It’s okay to postpone going to college. It’s okay to take a year off and figure out what you love to do and intern somewhere. What if you spend your entire life saying you want to be a surgeon and take the time to intern for one, only to find out you pass out at the sight of blood. It’s okay to decide that you want to open up a bakery instead of taking first year biology.

                College is an enhancement. You should only take the classes you want to take. If you want to become a psychology major you should.  If you want to become an art history major you should. Don’t worry about what kind of job you’ll be able to get or not afterwards because no field is hiring anyways. If you want to go to college just to play a sport, you should. If you want to drop out of college early to go pro, why not? It’ll be there when you get back. If you want to take a year off to see the world you should, because we all know you won’t be able to once you finish school and start a family.

                We stress and stress and stress college because we think that’s the next step. Our lives aren’t a map and our lives will not be ruined if we go off route. We should be exploring everything we possibly can. And at the same time everything won’t always be available to us, such as the money or even support; and knowing that we should still feel comfortable about not attending college because there are other options and ways to be successful. This is why it’s okay to not go to college. 

"Skilled Trade Careers." Skilled Trades Careers. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2014.

"Post Secondary Enrollment Rates." National Center for Education Statistics. US Department of Education, n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2014.

Manski, Charles F., and David A. Wise. College Choice in America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1983. Print.

Gould, Jacquelyn Smith and Skye. "Jobs That Don't Require a Degree." Editorial. Business Insider n.d.: n. pag. Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 14 Aug. 2014. Web. 4 Dec. 2014.

Is College Worth It? Dir. Andrew Rossi. NBC, 2014. Documentary.